is aswell one word or two words?

Hi there,
Can someone just give me some feedback about the word "aswell"?? Is it one word or two? Things like this stump me sometimes,.... a teacher corrected me today and said it was two words but I'm not sure- I need more opinions.
So if you're saying, 'could the children bring their coats aswell......' would you write as well or aswell???????????/
thank you for any replies

Bit baffled to the fact that you didn't know yourself so you asked someone else, who told you how to write it correctly but then it seems you didn't believe them so you thought you would come on here and ask others!
Probably would have been quicker to just listen to them or do a quick dictionary search on here.

As has been said above, the correct spelling is "as well". Of course it is. You'd never see "aswell" published in print. (Not to say that it won't ever happen. At one time "onto" was not a correct spelling.)
However, just nitpicking really, I suppose, you could argue that "as well" is one word with a space included in the spelling. When "as well" means "also", you could no more put another word between "as" and "well" than you could between "al" and "so".

One of the words I always spell wrong if I don't stop to think about it!

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Oh, the joys of posting on and education website!
Every other forum I use gives a passing nod to correct grammar, sentence structure, syntax and spelling.
Post on the TES site and you have to operate the 'Green Cross Posting Code.'
Edit once, Edit twice, Edit again and if all's clear Post.
It's like sitting a Grammar exam every time you post.
My particular difficulty is practise/practice and stationary/stationery!

I
know the phrase As Well is two words but why? if you take the meanings
of the two words independently they don't reflect the meaning of "as
well"... I understand how "a lot" is two independent words because the
meaning of lot can be a large amount which makes sense a lot = a large
amount .... but as well is a no go in that sense... I could be missing
something but perhaps whoever made these writing rules got the as well
being 2 words wrong.... Someone please shed some light on this most
perplexing piece of semantics....
after
further thought if as well has to be 2 separate words what about
also... they both only share a phonic relationship with 2 other words
but "also" gets its own independent word because its phonic counter
parts all so does not convey the meanings of the new word much like "As
well"... I think from here on out I'm spelling aswell as 1 word... If
anyone says that's incorrect i will demand to know why...And I won't be
satisfied with the explanation because... To adamantly enforce literary
rules without any knowledge of why it is that way is merely blindly
following what you were taught to be correct from a book (whatever book
that is that contains said rules)... In fact (that's another one worthy
of 2 word-ness) following rules to the extent some English professors
and majors do is not too far from the way devout religious individuals
follow the bible/Qur'an/torah ect... They will claim to be correct with
great fervor but when questioned about the logic behind said claims they
hide behind that's what's in the book so that's just the way it is...
No logic = No go for this guy...

Can someone just give me some feedback about the word "aswell"?? Is it one word or two? Things like this stump me sometimes,.... a teacher corrected me today and said it was two words but I'm not sure- I need more opinions.
So if you're saying, 'could the children bring their coats aswell......' would you write as well or aswell???????????/

after further thought if as well has to be 2 separate words what about also... they both only share a phonic relationship with 2 other words but "also" gets its own independent word because its phonic counter parts all so does not convey the meanings of the new word much like "As well"... I think from here on out I'm spelling aswell as 1 word... If anyone says that's incorrect i will demand to know why...And I won't be satisfied with the explanation because...

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That's exactly my thinking too!Perhaps u hav read my blogs http://englishspellingproblems.blogspot.comor http://improvingenglishspelling.blogspot.com ?
I am completely with u! - I get alot of stick on here for using u for you, but i won't let them stop me.
Re aswell. Many words that are now written as one used to be spelt as two or more:'all so', 'all ways', 'all be it' ...'As well' means exactly the same as 'too' (when it doesn't mean too much). So why shouldn't it be one word?

Sleepwellartex said:

To adamantly enforce literary rules without any knowledge of why it is that way is merely blindly following what you were taught to be correct from a book (whatever book that is that contains said rules)... In fact (that's another one worthy of 2 word-ness) following rules to the extent some English professors and majors do is not too far from the way devout religious individuals follow the bible/Qur'an/torah ect... They will claim to be correct with great fervor but when questioned about the logic behind said claims they hide behind that's what's in the book so that's just the way it is... No logic = No go for this guy...

Click to expand...

).
That's exactly my thinking too!
For many centuries the few people who wrote English spelt as they pleased, although by 1400 (if we go by the writings of Chaucer) they had somehow managed to develop a fairly consistent spelling systemWhen England ceased to be ruled by the Normans (around 1400 - 1430), the English language changed enormously, with upper class French merging with lower class English and court scribes having to switch from French to English (and making lots of spelling mistakes, such as 'double, trouble, able...).
Then in 1476 came along printing, first introduced by Caxton who had been away from England for 30 years and assistants who spoke no English. This was followed by the printing of the first English bibles from 1526 onwards, on the Continent, by people who spoke no English (because in England this was against the law until 1539), running to at least 40 different editions, with a great variety of spellings. (QEI and Shakespeare are believed to have owned some of the early ones, which would explain why she often used different spellings for a word even on the same page.)Near the end of the 16th C English spelling had ended up in an almighty mess, leading to discussions about making it more sensible, but (hard to believe though it is) schoolmasters put a stop to it, by beginning to compile spelling lists for their pupils and some having them published.
And hey presto! Around 1600 we get the beginnings of dictionaries and spelling by the book, as I have explained in more detail in on my EnglishSpellingProblems blog.The lovers of traditional spelling, which keeps children busy trying to master totally pointless spelling inconsistencies for many years, and stops them learning useful things, and especially learning to think logically, hate the facts which I compiled. A few centuries ago some of the people who now post on Opinion would have had me burned at the stake, as they did with Tyndale in 1536 for daring to translate the bible into English.

Well said, Mashabell, English has always changed and it's changing again with all the txting that my nieces are so adept at.
Having said that, there will usually always be a 'correct' spelling for when we want/need to 'get it right', I always keep this
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/
bookmarked on my laptop, and let the children see me looking up words when I'm 'not sure' (or when I simply want them to see that nobody knows everything). David Crystal is the living god of the English language, writes terrific books, readable and interesting (if you like this sort of stuff). I like his analogy that your words are like your clothes, you choose them to suit the occasion. So, I'll (try to) write 'correctly' when I'm on the TES forum, but I'l let it all hang out wen im txting my nieces.
But spare a thought for me while you gnash your teeth at the complexities of English spelling, the children in my class are 6 and 7 years old, and they're all native Spanish speakers!! They are seriously bemused by English, Spanish is a very regular language in that you usually spell words the way they sound.
I had the reverse before I moved to Spain when I taught Spanish to year 3 in the UK, they thought it was fantastic!
Here, we call English, 'la lengua loca', the mad language.
So, what's next? Hmmm, think I might try to explain to Mar&iacute;a Jos&eacute; why she can say/write 'I don't like it much,' but she can't say/write, 'I like it much.' As I said, &iexcl;Loca!

Call me old fashioned- I'm quite happy with that- but surely as teachers -particularly as teachers charged with the teaching of basic skills-we should be the guardians and upholders of the correct use of the E,nglish language. If not us-who else?!!
I find it tragic, not amusing, that any educated adult had to ask the original question. I was recently asked (by an NQT) whether 'would of' or 'would have' was correct. I am no pedant but really!!